Pearson versus Spearman, Kendall's Tau Correlation Analysis on Structure-Activity Relationships of Biologic Active Compounds

A sample of sixty-seven pyrimidine derivatives with inhibitory activity on E. coli dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) was studied by the use of molecular descriptors family on structure-activity relationships. Starting from the results obtained by applying of MDF-SAR methodology on pyrimidine derivatives and from the assumption that the measured activity (compounds’ inhibitory activity) of a biologically active compounds is a semi-quantitative outcome (can be related with the type of equipment used, the researchers, the chemical used, etc.), the abilities of Pearson, Spearman, Kendall’s, and Gamma correlation coefficients in analysis of estimated toxicity were studied and are presented.